4 Reasons Why 'Sharknado 5' Is Bound To Happen

The Sharknado franchise has grown from a single million-dollar movie to a series of four films with a massive fan following. Audiences have been taken in by the absurdity of a reality stretched so thin it's practically non-existent. With sharks flying around like bats at midnight, former surfer Fin and his wild-eyed wife April (previously his ex-wife) use chainsaws, guns, and even body parts to protect innocent civilians.

I'm a huge fan of disaster movies. Bring on Dante's Peak, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. They were all over-the-top action giants that brought "what if" to life. While we said in the movie theaters thinking "this would never happen", we could still believe, even if minutely, it actually could. It's feasible that a volcano could erupt, climate change could bring about the next Ice Age, and geological disasters could happen. That's what I love about disaster movies.

That's not what you'll find in the Sharknado movies. Ellen Adams of The Cavalier Daily says it best when she calls Sharknado The 4th Awakens "hilariously bad science fiction." Bad, yes, but good enough to keep the fans interested? Definitely. In fact, here are four reasons why future Sharknadoes are almost guaranteed.

Fans began clamoring for a 5th movie immediately after the ending of the 4th. It seems Sharknado screenwriter Thunder Levin has them covered. When interviewed by ScreenRant, he made it clear that everything depends on the ratings, but he also let it slip just how prepared he was for the future.

“I have actually developed a story arc for Sharknado five through seven – for the next three movies – and I’ve submitted that to The Asylum and we’ll see if they want to run with it or not and we’ll see if Syfy wants to do anymore of these. If they do, I’m ready to go and there’s no telling what you might see.”

With the 4th movie in the franchise ending on a cliffhanger, it only makes sense that producers and the Syfy channel would reward dedicated fans for sticking through the series. After all, how long have they been waiting for Nova's return? The producers would be cutting a hole in their wallets by failing to provide viewers with closure. With the DVD release of Sharknado The 4th Awakens right around the corner, the chances of a high volume of sales would be negligible if viewers knew there would be no closure.

And The Ratings Are There

Though Sharknado 4 didn't bring in ratings as high as Sharknado 3, they were still well above the average for Syfy with a respectable 2.77 million viewers the night of its release. To add to the plausibility of another movie, Sharknado 4 trended on Twitter in advance of its 9:00 p.m. release on July 31st. The previous year, tweeters inundated Twitter with demands for April to live after the producers left her return in the hands of the viewers. That kind of interactivity invokes good will and increases viewer participation. Viewers like to be consulted, and their voices were heard when April returned for Sharknado 4. So Sharknado 5 only makes sense.

Though the "so bad it's good" type of science fiction isn't for everyone, the Sharknado producers seem to have found a niche that is working. As long as fans keep tuning in for the crazy adventures of Fin and April Shepard, the producers and writers will, undoubtedly, keep churning out the movies. So watch out for the flying sharks!